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I almost forgot to post today, which would totally ruin my NaBloPoMo street cred. And I’ve been so good, even on the times I didn’t have access to the camera I managed to write something.

Brooke’s Column of Leaves is a more challenging project than I originally anticipated. Although I’m used to working from written out patterns, knitted lace that has increases and decreases on the wrong side rows always seemed a little too daunting for me.

You see, I am a decidedly left handed knitter, and being such tend to think about increases and decreases in the terms of “left leaning” or “right leaning” and not “slip on, knit one, pass slipped stitch over” and “knit 2 together.” It’s certainly easy enough with most shaping patterns which one is meant to be where, but to add to the confusion my sl1, k1, psso look exactly like my k2tog– they both go to the left, and my ssk (aka slip, slip, knit) is the right leaning baby in the crop. I also had to not only learn what a p2tog tbl meant but how to do it as well (which for me turns out to be a slip, slip, then purl in an ungodly angle.)

Note to the knitters– if a non-knitter just read the above paragraph the narrative voice would sound something like the adults from a Charlie Brown movie.

Knitting lace is an exercise in utter and unquestioning faith for me. I have faith that the designer isn’t just pulling my leg in some cruel and unknitterly way (for all I know those random knitting commands could produce something entirely different than the picture) and that someone has actually knitted the item at least once or twice to check for errors and that when I finish I will get a little more than the obligatory oohs and ahhs than I would if I knit something a little less challenging.

Since it’s harder to check for errors in a row (or a row or two down from the current one) I figured I’d do myself a favor and make a chart for the pattern. That made a HUGE difference, since I could see those right leaning and left leaning spots stitches in graphical form. This is a big step for me– I was a little phobic about charts for lace until the Branching Out scarf.

This started out as an excruciating project that has turned into quite an adventure and a learning experience.